Cake Class #2

So yesterday was my second cake decorating class. I was excited to learn more, but also a little nervous because class number two entails actually decorating a cake!! I had to bring an 8" round cake and prepared homemade buttercream icing to class. Friday night after getting home from work, I began making two batches of icing. The process went well and I ended up with two containers of yummy icing.

My next feat was to make a cake from scratch. I had decided during the week that I would attempt to make a butter cake from scratch, but was nervous to make my first cake from scratch! So I began making the batter, poured the batter into the pan, and put it in the oven. Once I thought the cake was done, I started cooling the cake. Then Tripp and I left to get some dinner. When we returned, the cake was cooled but it was sinking some in the middle of the cake. I didn't think much of it and got it wrapped it up so I could take it in the morning.

What I found out in class was that I had not cooked my cake quite enough. The cake was cooked, but not cooked as much as it should have been in the center. I was so aggravated, but I learned a lesson about the doneness of a cake! In class, we leveled our cakes, iced them, did a piping gel transfer (put a picture onto the cake), tinted icing, and started piping. It was a lot of work, but the cake came out cute!!

Cake Class #1

My friend Alyssa asked me back in August if I wanted to take a cake decorating class with her. I quickly took the offer as I thought it would be something fun to learn. The class is a series of 4 Saturday classes, each class being 3 hours long. Once signing up, I had a huge task to undertake--buying supplies! There is quite an extensive list of supplies needed for the 4 classes. I decided to start buying early and taking adventage of the coupins offered for Hobby Lobby and Michaels. The stores soon became a stop on my drive home from work to pick up another supply.

For the first class, we were required to bring 6 sugar cookies along with a bag of other supplies. I felt strange bringing in store-bought or roll-out dough cookies so I decided to try making homemade cookies. I got Tripp to help and before we knew it we had made a batch of sugar cookies coming out of the oven.

In the class, we learned about: how to bake a great cake, cake pans, making homemade buttercream icing, tinting icing, piping bags, tips, piping stars, piping rosettes, piping shells, and more.

Fun Filled Labor Day Weekend

Tripp and I spent Labor Day weekend in Mentone, Alabama with Tripp's family. We were all gathering to spend time together but to more importantly be there to share in Emmaline's (our niece) baptism. We left Houston early Saturday morning, made it to Birmingham, and then spent a couple of hours driving with Tripp's grandmothers from the airport to the Griffith residence. When we arrived in Mentone, we greeted all of the family and enjoyed a delicious lunch outside. Tripp went on the river with some of the

men while I went with Ms. Kat and Aunt Stacey to the church to help with flowers. Our job was to make two flower arrangements for the altar for the church service on Sunday. I told Ms. Kat and Aunt Stacey that I did not know much about flowers, but they insisted that I would be great at helping. With lots of direction and help, we ended up with two beautiful arrangements.

We spend the rest of the evening visiting with family, especially little Miss Emmaline! We had a delicious family dinner to end the day.

Sunday morning after a quick breakfast, we all bean getting ready for the special church. It was a very nice church service attended by many people there to support and love Emmaline. She was so good throughout the service, but was a little surprised when water was put on her head! After the service, we had lunch with the church congregation.

Once home from church, Tripp and I changed clothes and headed outside. Tripp really wanted me to shoot a gun, so me, Tripp, Collie, and Natalie got a .22 Rifle and the necessary bullets and went to a clear area. Tripp and Collie set up some cans to shoot and demonstrated the way to shoot. I shot twice and I was done! It was soo heavy and hard to aim and scary!

After my shooting lesson, we went to the river for a canoe ride. Tripp rowed and I sat!  

 Next, we went into the woods so that Tripp could try his hand at making a fire from sticks and rocks. Watching "nature" shows on television gave Tripp some ideas. It was a great attempt, but fire was not made :(

That evening we played Apples to Apples and then ate another fabulous meal. Monday morning, Tripp and I cleaned out his old room, ate lunch, visited with family, and left for the airport. It was a great trip!
                                             

Another bithday has come and gone!

I have totally slacked on blogging! With the start of a new school year, work has been keeping me quite busy these days.  So to back-track some, I turned 27 on August 13th. The first of my birthday celebrations took place a few weeks before my birthday when my parents were in Houston. We spent a couple of days by the pool, at the mall, and sharing several meals in between my dad's doctors appointments. The night before my parents headed back to New Orleans, we had a fabulous birthday meal at Pappas Bros Steakhouse. It was a delicious dinner with great company. It ended with delicious creme broulee from the restaurant and a slice of chocolate cake that my mom had made. My parents also surprised me with a fabulous new watch!

The second of my birthday celebrations was on my actual birthday. Shortly after getting home from work, Tripp began preparing a special birthday dinner for me. The meal started with an appetizer of my favorite cheese and crackers...yum! The incredible meal Tripp made consisted of steaks, potatoes au grautin, and salad. The dinner was followed by a sweet "cake" treat made of one of my favorites dessert :) Tripp gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a gift certificate for a spa day!!

Thanks to all of my friends and family who made my birthday a special one!!

Doing things around the apartment

Tripp and I finally completed a few projects in our apartment. My parents are coming to visit at the end of the week so we had some incentive to complete these quick (well we thought they would be!) projects. First, we decided to tackle hanging curtains in our bedroom. We went to Home Depot and bought the necessary supplies. We started the measuring and encountered our first dilemma. We did not have a stool tall enough for the job. So we improvised and came up with a rather unsafe "stool" consisting of an ottoman with a step stool on top!! We got the valence hung with ease! Then we tried to work on the drapes and quickly found that we had grabbed a rod that was too short. Tripp made a second trip to Home Depot to get the correct rod and we were back in business. Tripp got the drapes hung easily and enjoyed the opportunity to use his tools he got as wedding presents.

We then decided we would hang some floating shelves we purchased for the living room. The process for getting the shelves hung had a few snags but the finished product is fabulous!!

I am lucky to have such a handy and patient husband to put up with me and me decorating ideas!

Feeling Crafty

Since I have been off these last few weeks, I have had an itch to do something crafty. Tripp and I have had a wooden framed mirror for over a year now just waiting for some TLC. I decided it was the perfect time to stain the mirror and add it to a wall in our dining area.  It looks great!

Getting a facelift

After 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wanting to do something else with an artistic flare, I decided to create some artwork for my classroom. My class name is Kangaroos leaving finding decor difficult. I printed some images of kangaroos from the Internet, made templates, purchased my supplies, and went to town. I can't wait to  hang them in my classroom!

The finished product!

 

 

 

 

 

Light the Night Walk

Some of you may know that my dad was diagnosed with a form of lymphoma in November 2008. My dad has endured many doctor's appointments, tests, pain, and mental exhaustion through the last year and a half. I think one thing that has been uplifting during these hard times has been all of the support he has been given. I knew he would feel supported by his family and close friends, but I have been surprised to see all of the others that have sent their love and support to him and our family.

I received an email a few weeks ago from my mom about a walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma and honestly barely read the email. But an email I recieved yesterday, really caught my attention. The email was from my dad that had something about a Lymphoma walk team in the subject line. In the body of the email it said "FYI." Being curious, I read below. I was confused at first because the email was reading something about a team in honor of my dad for  this walk being held in October in Metairie, LA. But the email was not sent from my dad or even a family member or close friend. The email was from a person named Denise. Confused, I called my mom for an explaination. My mom explained that someone from an insurance company that my dad deals with in his job has started a team, "Walking with Friends," in honor of my dad. I was so touched that someone/group pf people decided that a team should be formed for my dad! Here is the link to my dad's team page

So, our goal is to get as many people as possible to join our team to show support for my dad's journey and for the journey of so many others effected by blood cancers. If you would like to join us for the walk and/or make a donation to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, please visit this link to help us make a difference!!